Sermon Tone Analysis

Bible Reading:

Introduction

Last week we began our study on Spiritual Discernment.

The essence of the message that I brought last week was that there is an urgent need for spiritual discernment.

I pointed out through Scripture, a number of sources of deception in the world that we live in, that could lead us to a lack of spiritual discernment.

I then also went into those aspects that could cause us a lack of discernment in our lives as Christians.

Aspects such as spiritual immaturity; lack of regenerate faith (believing faith);

My concern in this area of what is known as spiritual discernment is that there is a lot of ignorance among believers concerning the exercise of Spiritual Discernment.

I’ve mentioned before on a few occasions that the phrase “Judge Not” is used extensively today, and is very often used to target Christians who attempt to exercise judgment over matters, usually regarding the behaviors and practices of people around us.

Sadly, this phrase “Judge Not” is not only used by unbelievers towards Christians in the church, but it is used by Christians against other Christians who attempt to exercise discernment and judgment on matters within the church.

And so this morning’s message is entitled “Judge Not, But Judge all Things!”

What I hope to show us this morning is that there are certainly injunctions in Scripture that demonstrate that we are not to judge - or at least, we are not to make certain kinds of judgment.

On the other hand, we are taught in Scripture that we are to exercise “Judgment” / “Discernment” in our lives, this for the wellbeing of ourselves and others.

And so this is a critical aspect for us to understand in terms of us living with discernment in this world.

1.

Judge Not

As we begin, then, I want to draw our attention firstly to the imperative of Jesus to “Judge NOT!”

We read that command by Christ in our reading this morning from Matthew 7, and particularly verses 1 and 2.

And so we’re going to start right there, and consider this imperative of Jesus to “Judge Not”.

The first main heading this morning is “Judge Not” - but I’m going to elaborate on the point under three sub-headings.

1.1.

As a Hypocrite

Firstly, we are not to judge as hypocrites.

The passage in Matthew 7:1-2 which contains that phrase “Judge Not” is one in which Christ is teaching that we should not judge others hypocritically.

The word judge that is used here in the Greek (κρίνω / krino) is a typical one used in the New Testament, and it has a variety of meanings, depending on context.

The word can mean to “analyze or evaluate” something.

Alternatively, it can mean to “condemn” or to “avenge”.

In the context in Matthew 7, it becomes very clear that what Christ is getting at here is the idea that there is not to be hypocritical judgment / condemnation of other people.

In verse 3 he says to them:

In other words, He condemns people pointing out small faults in others, when in their own lives they have far more significant faults in their own lives.

This kind of hypocritical behaviour was preeminantly seen in the lives of the Pharisees.

Jesus repeatedly told them that they were hypocrites, putting on a show of religiosity, but having their hearts so far from God.

You will recall that in the Old Testament, the Israelites would often go through the motions of religious worship.

They would offer sacrifices.

They would attend the annual festivals etc.

But all of that was merely a show.

In their private lives, they didn’t actually have a heart for God.

For example...

The Israelites thought that they were God’s special chosen people, and thus could look down on other nations, but meanwhile their hearts had grown far from God.

And so, in our own lives, we are to be very careful to never to judge other people hypocritically.

Having said that, I think there is a helpful comment on this hypocrisy from Tim Challies.

He writes:

It is important to understand what hypocrisy is not.

Hypocrisy is not the disparity between what we are and what we long to be.

It is not the gap between what we want to do and what we actually do.

Rather, in the words of Kevin DeYoung, hypocrisy is “the gap between public persona and private character.

Hypocrisy is the failure to practice what you preach.

Appearing outwardly righteous to others, while actually being full of uncleanness and self-indulgence—that’s the definition of hypocrisy.”

As believers, we need to be quick to deal with the sin in our own lives first.

We need to be quick to bring our own sins before the Father in confession and repentance.

We need to strive to live lives in which our public persona and our private character are in alignment.

And so the first way that we are not to judge is that we are not to judge hypocritically, when we ourselves have serious sin issues in our own lives, and are failing to deal with them.

1.2.

Don’t Judge on matters of conscience

But there are other occasions where we should not be judging, and the next aspect that I’d like us to recognise is that we are not to judge others on matters of pure personal conscience and conviction!

When the early church was established, we must remember that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was proclaimed first to the Jews, and then to the Gentiles.

But in that day, there was a stark contrast between the way of life for the Jew (who had been raised in strict obedience to the law given through Moses) and the life of the Gentile.

Their entire culture was completely different.

And so what happened in the early church is that you had Jews who became believers in Christ, and Gentiles who became believers in Christ, and the Jews would very often have consciences that were strongly bound to their former way of life.

And perhaps you would even have Gentiles who were strongly convicted in their own ways of life.

And so this sharp distinction was prevalent in the early church, and as a result, there was some fighting over what was acceptable practice in the church and what wasn’t acceptable practice.

Paul’s argument in Romans 14 is that Christ died for sinners, Jew and Gentile, and that they cannot begin to pronounce judgment on one another based on observances such as special days observed or not observed, or types of foods eaten or not eaten.

These specific rules and regulations are matter of conscience.

Further on, Paul continues by saying...

Paul says to them that they are not to judge one another in these matters.

Another similar example of this is found in Colossians 2:16-17...

Any judgment that is passed on another believer regarding these “shadows” of things to come is going against the word of God, and this judgment is wrong.

When we as believers begin to pronounce judgment on other believers in matters where the Scriptures are silent, then we are standing in judgment in an aspect that is not ours to judge - that judgement belongs to God.

1.3.

Don’t Judge on Appearances

But there is one further area in life that we are not to judge, and that is for us to judge on appearances!!

This is so important for us in our lives, because so very often we can make judgments about people based on appearances.

The way things appear, lead us to make deductions or draw conclusions, and then we judge people based on the conclusions that we’ve drawn, in the absence of proper facts.

What this boils down to is judgment based on suspicions and opinions.

Certain things are said or done - not outright sinful in and of themselves - but because we know the sinfulness of man’s heart, and because we’ve seen things like this before, or because of whatever other factors around us, we’re pretty certain that this person has evil intentions.

And so we judge them.

The mindset here is more “Guilty until proven innocent” than “Innocent until proven guilty.”

Friends, this judgment is nothing short of evil in God’s eyes.

We are not those who are privy to the intentions of people’s hearts.

In 1 Corinthians 13:7, we read that love always trusts, and that love always hopes...

If you consider the life of Christ, and even many of the disciples in the Scriptures, you find examples of false accusations being brought against them purely on the basis of evil suspicions.

John the Baptist was accused of being possessed by a demon (Matthew 11:18)

Jesus was accused of being a drunkard and a glutton (Matthew 11:19)

Were any of these accusations correct and true?

Of course not.

They were based on mere appearances.

In John 7:24, Jesus says...

As Paul wrote to the Corinthian believers, there was some dispute going on with regards to who was the greater apostle.

The church was divided between followers of Apollos, followers of Cephas, followers of Paul etc.

And as Paul addresses this, he says these words in 1 Corinthians 4:3-5...

Paul was not saying in this context that all judging of anything is wrong.

But he was saying that they were in a position to judge the motives of men’s hearts - that was something that the Lord would have to judge.

When we judge on appearances, when we judge based on a lack of proper biblical evidence, with a lack of factual basis, it leads us to speak evil of others.

This is the sin of slander.

James deals with this in his letter.

God’s hatred towards this kind of slander is seen in Psalm 101:5

Slander proceeds forth from a proud heart.

In Romans 1:29-30, slander is included in the list of descriptions concerning those who have turned their backs on God.

This is a serious sin, dear brothers.

We are not to judge others based on appearances.

So we’ve seen together when we are not to judge others (no hypocrisy; no judging on matters of personal conscience; no judging on appearances).

2. Judge all things

Having considered this aspect of judging not, we must now turn our attention to where and how the Scriptures teach us that we ought to judge!

And again, I want to consider this under three sub-headings.